What is USB?
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a royalty-free bus specification developed in the 1990s by leading manufacturers in the PC and telephony industries to support plug-and-play peripheral connections. USB...more/see it nowhas standardized how peripherals, such as keyboards, disk drivers, cameras, printers, and hubs) are connected to computers.

Universal Serial Bus (USB) USB detects and configures the new devices instantly.
Before USB, adding peripherals required skill. You had to open your computer to install a card, set DIP switches, and make IRQ settings. Now you can connect digital printers, recorders, backup drives, and other devices in seconds. USB detects and configures the new devices instantly.

Benefits of USB.
• USB is “universal.” Almost every device today has a USB port of some type.
• Convenient plug-and-play connections. No powering down. No rebooting.
• Power. USB supplies power so you don’t have to worry about adding power. The A socket supplies the power.
• Speed. USB is fast and getting faster. The original USB 1.0 had a data rate of 1.5 Mbps. USB 3.0 has a data rate of 4.8 Gbps.

USB Standards

USB 1.1
USB 1.1, introduced in 1995, is the original USB standard. It has two data rates: 12 Mbps (Full-Speed) for devices such as disk drives that need high-speed throughput and 1.5 Mbps (Low-Speed) for devices such as joysticks that need much lower bandwidth.

USB 2.0
In 2002, USB 2.0, (High-Speed) was introduced. This version is backward-compatible with USB 1.1. It increases the speed of the peripheral to PC connection from 12 Mbps to 480 Mbps, or 40 times faster than USB 1.1.

This increase in bandwidth enhances the use of external peripherals that require high throughput, such as printers, cameras, video equipment, and more. USB 2.0 supports demanding applications, such as Web publishing, in which multiple high-speed devices run simultaneously.

USB 3.0 Connector
USB 3.0 has a flat USB Type A plug, but inside there is an extra set of connectors and the edge of the plug is blue instead of white. The Type B plug looks different with an extra set of connectors.
Type A plugs from USB 3.0 and 2.0 are designed to interoperate. USB 3.0 Type B plugs are larger than USB 2.0 plugs. USB 2.0 Type B plugs can be inserted into USB 3.0 receptacles, but the opposite is not possible.

USB 3.0 Cable
The USB 3.0 cable contains nine wires—four wire pairs plus a ground. It has two more data pairs than USB 2.0, which has one pair for data and one pair for power. The extra pairs enable USB 3.0 to support bidirectional asynchronous, full-duplex data transfer instead of USB 2.0’s half-duplex polling method.

USB 3.0 Power
USB 3.0 provides 50% more power than USB 2.0 (150 mA vs 100 mA) to unconfigured devices and up to 80% more power (900 mA vs 500 mA) to configured devices. It also conserves power too compared to USB 2.0, which uses power when the cable isn’t being used.

USB 3.1
Released in 2013, is called SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps. There are three main differentiators to USB 3.1. It doubles the data rate from 5 Gbps to 10 Gbps. It will use the new, under-development Type C connector, which is far smaller and designed for use with everything from laptops to mobile phones. The Type C connector is being touted as a single-cable solution for audio, video, data, and power. It will also have a reversible plug orientation. Lastly, will have bidirectional power delivery of up to 100 watts and power auto-negotiation. It is backward compatible with USB 3.0 and 2.0, but an adapter is needed for the physical connection.

What is USB?
Universal Serial Bus (USB) is a royalty-free bus specification developed in the 1990s by leading manufacturers in the PC and telephony industries to support plug-and-play peripheral connections. USB has standardized how peripherals, such as keyboards, disk drivers, cameras, printers, and hubs) are connected to computers.

Universal Serial Bus (USB) USB detects and configures the new devices instantly.
Before USB, adding peripherals required skill. You had to open your computer to install a card, set DIP switches, and make IRQ settings. Now you can connect digital printers, recorders, backup drives, and other devices in seconds. USB detects and configures the new devices instantly.

Benefits of USB.
• USB is “universal.” Almost every device today has a USB port of some type.
• Convenient plug-and-play connections. No powering down. No rebooting.
• Power. USB supplies power so you don’t have to worry about adding power. The A socket supplies the power.
• Speed. USB is fast and getting faster. The original USB 1.0 had a data rate of 1.5 Mbps. USB 3.0 has a data rate of 4.8 Gbps.

USB Standards

USB 1.1
USB 1.1, introduced in 1995, is the original USB standard. It has two data rates: 12 Mbps (Full-Speed) for devices such as disk drives that need high-speed throughput and 1.5 Mbps (Low-Speed) for devices such as joysticks that need much lower bandwidth.

USB 2.0
In 2002, USB 2.0, (High-Speed) was introduced. This version is backward-compatible with USB 1.1. It increases the speed of the peripheral to PC connection from 12 Mbps to 480 Mbps, or 40 times faster than USB 1.1.

This increase in bandwidth enhances the use of external peripherals that require high throughput, such as printers, cameras, video equipment, and more. USB 2.0 supports demanding applications, such as Web publishing, in which multiple high-speed devices run simultaneously.

USB 3.0 Connector
USB 3.0 has a flat USB Type A plug, but inside there is an extra set of connectors and the edge of the plug is blue instead of white. The Type B plug looks different with an extra set of connectors.
Type A plugs from USB 3.0 and 2.0 are designed to interoperate. USB 3.0 Type B plugs are larger than USB 2.0 plugs. USB 2.0 Type B plugs can be inserted into USB 3.0 receptacles, but the opposite is not possible.

USB 3.0 Cable
The USB 3.0 cable contains nine wires—four wire pairs plus a ground. It has two more data pairs than USB 2.0, which has one pair for data and one pair for power. The extra pairs enable USB 3.0 to support bidirectional asynchronous, full-duplex data transfer instead of USB 2.0’s half-duplex polling method.

USB 3.0 Power
USB 3.0 provides 50% more power than USB 2.0 (150 mA vs 100 mA) to unconfigured devices and up to 80% more power (900 mA vs 500 mA) to configured devices. It also conserves power too compared to USB 2.0, which uses power when the cable isn’t being used.

USB 3.1
Released in 2013, is called SuperSpeed USB 10 Gbps. There are three main differentiators to USB 3.1. It doubles the data rate from 5 Gbps to 10 Gbps. It will use the new, under-development Type C connector, which is far smaller and designed for use with everything from laptops to mobile phones. The Type C connector is being touted as a single-cable solution for audio, video, data, and power. It will also have a reversible plug orientation. Lastly, will have bidirectional power delivery of up to 100 watts and power auto-negotiation. It is backward compatible with USB 3.0 and 2.0, but an adapter is needed for the physical connection.

USB 1.1, introduced in 1995, is the original USB standard. It has two data rates:...more/see it now12 Mbps for devices such as disk drives that need high-speed throughput and 1.5 Mbps for devices such as joysticks that need much lower bandwidth.

In 2002, a newer specification, USB 2.0, or Hi-Speed USB 2.0, gained wide acceptance in the industry. This version is both forward- and backward-compatible with USB 1.1. It increases the speed of the peripheral to PC connection from 12 Mbps to 480 Mbps, or 40 times faster than USB 1.1!

This increase in bandwidth enhances the use of external peripherals that require high throughput, such as CD/DVD burners, scanners, digital cameras, video equipment, and more. USB 2.0 supports demanding applications, such as Web publishing, in which multiple high-speed devices run simultaneously. USB 2.0 also supports Windows® XP through a Windows update.

An even newer USB standard, USB On-The-Go (OTG), is also in development. USB OTG enables devices other than a PC to act as a host. It enables portable equipment—such as PDAs, cell phones, digital cameras, and digital music players—to connect to each other without the need for a PC host.

USB 2.0 specifies three types of connectors: the A connector, the B connector, and the Mini B connector. A fourth type of connector, the Mini A (used for smaller peripherals such as mobile phones), was developed as part of the USB OTG specification. collapse

USB 1.1, introduced in 1995, is the original USB standard. It has two data rates: 12 Mbps for devices such as disk drives that need high-speed throughput and 1.5 Mbps for devices such as joysticks that need much lower bandwidth.

In 2002, a newer specification, USB 2.0, or Hi-Speed USB 2.0, gained wide acceptance in the industry. This version is both forward- and backward-compatible with USB 1.1. It increases the speed of the peripheral to PC connection from 12 Mbps to 480 Mbps, or 40 times faster than USB 1.1!

This increase in bandwidth enhances the use of external peripherals that require high throughput, such as CD/DVD burners, scanners, digital cameras, video equipment, and more. USB 2.0 supports demanding applications, such as Web publishing, in which multiple high-speed devices run simultaneously. USB 2.0 also supports Windows® XP through a Windows update.

An even newer USB standard, USB On-The-Go (OTG), is also in development. USB OTG enables devices other than a PC to act as a host. It enables portable equipment—such as PDAs, cell phones, digital cameras, and digital music players—to connect to each other without the need for a PC host.

USB 2.0 specifies three types of connectors: the A connector, the B connector, and the Mini B connector. A fourth type of connector, the Mini A (used for smaller peripherals such as mobile phones), was developed as part of the USB OTG specification.